In a New England fine-dining landscape where provenance is the ultimate currency, White Barn Inn, Auberge Collection is doubling down on place. The storied coastal retreat in Kennebunk, Maine, is opening a new culinary chapter under Executive Chef Cornelia Sühr — a chef whose résumé reads like a tour of the world’s most rarefied kitchens, now pointed squarely at the Atlantic coastline and the farms and forests behind it.
For operators watching the luxury hospitality space, this is a familiar and powerful playbook: pair a destination property with a marquee culinary hire, then let the local terroir do the storytelling. White Barn Inn is executing it with intent.
From Working Barn to Fine-Dining Landmark
The building itself is part of the pitch. Once home to livestock, horses and chickens — and later used as an ice creamery — the historic barn was restored in 1973 and transformed into White Barn Inn Restaurant, establishing a legacy of elevated dining rooted in Maine’s agricultural and coastal bounty. More than five decades later, the property has become one of the country’s most distinctive culinary getaways, a 90-minute drive north of Boston.
That heritage sets the stage for a chef with a decidedly international pedigree.
Who Is Chef Cornelia Sühr?
German-born, Sühr has worked in some of the world’s most acclaimed kitchens, including Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester and The Savoy in London, and later at The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel in New York, where she became the hotel’s first female Chef de Cuisine. She went on to lead kitchens at Jean-Georges Philadelphia at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia, before joining The Surf Club Restaurant by Thomas Keller in Florida.
Now at the helm of White Barn Inn, she’s translating years of classical European training through the lens of coastal Maine — letting the landscape and its changing seasons dictate the menu.
Inside the Coast Line & Forest Tasting Menu
The centerpiece of this new chapter is Sühr’s signature Coast Line & Forest tasting menu, which traces a progression from the Atlantic coastline to the deeper flavors of land, smoke and fire. Drawing on Maine’s farms, waters and forests, she leans on techniques including fermentation, preservation, smoking and live-fire cooking to bring depth and character to peak-season ingredients.
Priced at $250 per guest, with an optional $125 wine pairing, the current menu evolves with seasonal availability. Current highlights include:
Halibut | Razor Clams | Potato | Dill — Coastal New England ingredients filtered through a contemporary take on French technique, with a sauce inspired by traditional moules marinières.
Stonington Lobster | Parisian Gnocchi | Sea Beans | Fennel — Lobster sourced from Stonington, one of Maine’s premier lobster fishing towns, paired with airy Parisian gnocchi and a sauce drawn from a Provençal bourride.
Jonah Crab | Celeriac | Green Apple | Chervil — A lighter, more delicate expression of fall that gives Jonah crab the attention usually reserved for Maine lobster.
“Maine offers an extraordinary culinary landscape, from the cold Atlantic and its abundance of seafood to its farms, forests, and beautiful yet fleeting growing season. My goal is not to disguise these ingredients, but to give them a stage. I want our guests to experience Maine through the menu while weaving in my own European background, techniques, and perspective. Ultimately, I want the food to have a distinct sense of place while remaining elegant, modern, and deeply personal,” said Executive Chef Sühr.
Beyond the Tasting Menu
The property surrounds the dining room with experiences designed to deepen the sense of place. On-site offerings include The Art of the Petit Plateau, Shell & Shore Oyster Shucking and Tastings, The Macallan Whisky Tastings and Farm-to-Cocktail Classes. Beyond the property, Kennebunkport’s annual HarvestFest draws visitors for a celebration of local food, makers and community.
Why It Matters
For hospitality operators and foodservice executives, White Barn Inn’s new chapter is a clinic in how to build value around a destination restaurant without resorting to gimmicks. Three takeaways stand out:
Talent is the headline. A chef with a Ducasse–Keller–Rosewood lineage is instant credibility and a powerful PR and reservations driver. The marquee culinary hire remains one of the most reliable ways to reposition a luxury property.
Local sourcing is the differentiator. Named provenance — Stonington lobster, Maine farms and forests — turns ingredients into narrative. Hyperlocal storytelling continues to justify premium pricing, and a $250 tasting menu lives or dies on that sense of place.
Experiences extend the spend. Oyster shucking, whisky tastings and farm-to-cocktail classes layer additional revenue and guest engagement around the core dining offer — a model any resort or upscale restaurant group can adapt.
The broader signal: in fine dining, “sense of place” plus credentialed talent is the formula that keeps luxury guests booking, even at the top of the price ladder.
Dining and Cooking